Potential role of long non-coding RNA LINC00968 in luminal A and B breast cancers

Abstract

Purpose Breast Cancer (BC) is the most frequent malignancy among women worldwide. ER+ breast cancers (luminal A and B subtypes) comprise up to 70% of all BC patients. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are regulatory non-coding transcripts and longer than 200 nucleotides. LncRNAs can affect many biological and pathological processes and dysregulation of them is related to many human cancers. The potential role of LINC00968 lncRNA in luminal A and B breast cancer pathogenesis is still unclear. Methods Seventy-one pairs of tumor and adjacent non-tumor tissue specimens of luminal A and B breast cancer were used to analyze the expression of LINC00968. Furthermore, two luminal A cell lines, MCF7 and T47D, were used to evaluate the expression of LINC00968 compared with a non-malignant breast cell line, MCF10A. Moreover, we have done multiple bioinformatic analyses for a better understanding of the potential roles of LINC00968 in luminal BC. Results Our data revealed the significant downregulation of LINC00968 in luminal tumor tissues and cell lines. LINC00968 expression was negatively associated with tumor stage and lymph node metastasis. Bioinformatic analyses indicated that LINC00968 might be involved in blood vessel development, angiogenesis, and might be participated in interaction of ECM constituents with cancer cells. LINC00968 might have functions in some cancer-related signaling pathways, like PI3K/Akt, ECM-receptor interaction signaling pathway, and PPAR signaling pathway. Conclusions Downregulation of LINC00968 might promote carcinogenesis of luminal BC. LINC00968 might act as a tumor suppressor gene and might also promote invasion and metastasis of luminal BC.